Subj : Re: Future Messaging Proposal To : August Abolins From : Boondock Date : Mon May 24 2021 09:05 am Re: Re: Future Messaging Proposal By: August Abolins to John Dovey on Sun May 23 2021 17:25:00 JD>>> I've investigated (and implemented to various degrees of JD>>> success) different networks types, including "SneakerNet" JD>>> and Mesh Networks. AA> The latter two sound like good candidates of a good story that AA> you're hold back from us! Sure. If you want stories, I've got plenty :-) Some are maybe even relevent to this echo. Here's one: Somewhere around 1988, I was busy with a COBOL Programming course. I'd gotten sponsered onto the course by a Gvt program for Veterans after having taken part in a competetive "aptitude" test so the cost of the course as covered but not much else. So there I was, doing programming stuff during the day on mainframe type computers, and hungry for info on these new-fangled PC things but with no easy way to get access to any. Then I discovered that the local university computer labs had plenty available. Only for students though of course. I quickly figured out a way of loitering near the door until someone came out, then catching the door to be able to sneak in and start using them to teach muself about such exciting topics as DOS. It wasnt' too long and I's discovered that it was possible to do things like log in to the New York Public Library and browse their catalogue... all the way from South Africa. That was a thrillingdiscovery. let me tell you! After some time, I discovered the newsgroups. Starting with Usenet of course. My fellow students quickly discovered that I had an advantage. When we were given assignments or there were questions, I'd disappear and come back the next day with all sorts of answers and eventually they cornered me and I explained about the newsgroups where there were all sorts of interesting people who would answer questions and help out at the drop of a hat. After that, I became the "hub" that collected messages from my fellow students (on floppy disks) and then I would upload their posts (as them) and download the latest posts back onto their floppy disks.. ie a literal sneakernet. I used this same model in later years for various other projects I got involved in, but the big breakthrough was the FTN tech because it was possible to take actual "packets" and not have to do all kinds of interactive stuff with individual accounts etc. One of the greatest advantages to all this was that it wasn't "FidoNet" but rather a completely private network that just used the technology. One particular project was impossible to achieve because of the typical military paranoia, until my solution showed that the transfer of messages was completely secure because it relied on "couriers" so the messages never travelled over any insecure lines, they were only sent and read on secured computers that were physically seperated from ANY comm lines. We also used PGP to both sign and encrypt every message before "transmission". Just as a side-note. This happened while we were under embargo from almost every country in the world so we had very little access to anything.. Any way, I think this is at least tangentially relevant to the discusion. JD Boondock === BoonDock El Gato de Fuego - elgato.synchronetbbs.org 4:92/1 - Pedasi/Panama .... Crisis management works beautifully until an actual crisis occurs. --- SBBSecho 3.12-Linux * Origin: El Gato de Fuego - elgato.synchronetbbs.org (4:920/1) .